Over 2,000 exhibitors have registered for the 60th edition of Salone del Mobile.Milano, to be held from 7 to 12 June 2022
After the stop for the pandemic and the special Supersalone edition in 2021, the Salone del Mobile is supposed to celebrate its 60th edition (one should always leave room for doubt these days) from 7 to 12 June 2022. This year’s edition will be the 60th, although the first edition was held in 1961. This is because in 1991 it was not held due to the realignment of the calendars of the Milan Fair and was cancelled in 2020.
In these sixty years, the Salone del Mobile has been able to transform itself into the most visited lifestyle event in the world and to activate synergies with the city of Milan. But the abrupt halt imposed by the pandemic and the current crisis opens many questions about the future.
Discover the Supersalone 2021
What awaits us at the Salone del Mobile.Milano 2022?
The goal for 2022 is very ambitious: to demonstrate that it is possible and necessary to restart organizing major international events in person, talking about sustainability and environmental awareness also for furniture production. All indications point that way. To date, 2,083 exhibitors, including companies and young designers, have already registered, occupying all 200,000 square meters of the Rho-Fieramilano exhibition center.
“The Salone del Mobile has always been a catalyst for creativity, positivity and energy. We have always been a place of dialogue and construction, in Milan and at the Shanghai and Moscow editions. Now, we are as shocked as everyone else by the war in Ukraine and believe even more in the importance of being a crossroads of cultures and styles open to the world – says Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano. We cannot stand still, in fact we have a duty to move even faster in the direction of design, production and distribution solutions that are as sustainable as possible – what we need today is an ethical approach to design.”
Salone del Mobile.Milano and sustainability
“The sustainability of the event is the competitive lever on which we want to focus with honesty, commitment and transparency,” concludes the President. In order to focus on sustainability, the Salone del Mobile.Milano 2022 will work on several aspects. First of all, exhibitors and fitters will have to follow guidelines for stand construction. For example, they are invited to use reusable, recycled, low environmental impact or FSC and PEFC certified materials. There are also other tips such as avoiding waste of materials, electricity and water, choosing sustainable logistics. Lastly, stands should be demountable and reusable, and they must be mindful of their disposal. For its part, the Salone is committed to applying the same guidelines to the creation of communal spaces.
Also on sustainability: Design With Nature, curated by Mario Cucinella
Sustainability is also the theme of the exhibition/installation curated by Mario Cucinella, Design with Nature. Pavilion 15, the area of S.Project, will host this exhibition dedicated to the future of housing, where Mario Cucinella envisions a virtuous ecosystem that allows for healthy cities and communities.
Read our interview with architect Mario Cucinella
SaloneSatellite and young designers
Respect for the environment and projects for the future will be the leitmotif of the SaloneSatellite, which will bring together over 600 young designers under the claim “Designing for our future selves/Progettare per i nostri domani”. One of the big changes of the Salone del Mobile 2022 will involve the SaloneSatellite, located in Pavilion 1 with a new exhibition design.
The 60th edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano will include all the Saloni collateral shows. From 7 to 12 June Rho-Fieramilano will be hosting Workplace 3.0, S.Project, Eurocucina, TFK, the Complements Exhibition and the International Bathroom Exhibition.
Last but not least, after the Supersalone experience, an interesting program of Talks will be back, curated by Maria Cristina Didero, Chiara Alessi and Beatrice Leanza.
Salone del Mobile.Milano for education: the scholarship dedicated to Manlio Armellini
The Salone del Mobile.Milano and POLI.Design set up a scholarship, for the Master in Furniture Design of POLI.Design. Promoted by Maria Porro and Mrs. Armida Armellini, the scholarship is named after Manlio Armellini, soul of Salone del Mobile from 1965 to 2009, at first general secretary and then CEO. The scholarship will cover 50% of the enrolment fee to the Master for an Italian student and a foreign one, and will be assigned by a commission including the Master’s direction, Maria Porro and Armida Armellini.
Discover who was Manlio Armellini
The Salone as a platform to search for new markets
The Russia-Ukraine crisis worsens the supply difficulties of companies and pushes up further the prices of raw materials and energy, affecting the final product and making our products less competitive. From Ukraine, Russia and Belarus we import about 5.3% of logs, panels and sawn timber, equal to 468,948 cubic meters out of the total 9 million cubic meters that arrive in Italy from all over the world (Jan-Nov 2021 data). 2.5% come from Russia, 2.3% from Ukraine and 0.5% from Belarus. The weight of Russia on the export of the wood furniture supply chain is 410 million euros (data updated to November 2021). In 2019 it was 435, so it records a decrease of about 6%. In the export “ranking” of the Macro Furniture System, Russia is the 9th country, behind China, Spain and Belgium.
Read the preliminary data for 2021 on the wood furniture sector
Claudio Feltrin, President of FederlegnoArredo, concluded: “The strategic importance of fairs, and therefore also of the Salone, lies entirely in the great uptake by the companies, demonstrating that they neither wish nor are prepared to miss the 60th anniversary of an unrivalled global showcase. Being able to exhibit Made in Italy products at the Salone means underscoring our leadership position as well as eyeing up new and emerging markets.”
